Yakemchuk / Parekh / Silayev / Dickinson / Buium

[The Devilish Buffoon]

Right on the RHD - good point, but I don't buy the "a less intelligent Sanderson" description of Dickinson for a micro second.

• 6-foot-3 and 195 pounds
• one of the youngest players in his draft class
• mental maturity
• highly-effective defender, and stands out amongst his peers for his aggressiveness, defensive intelligence
• With the puck, he’s decisive and explosive, drawing in forechecking pressure only to leave it in his dust as he carries the puck from zone to zone unimpeded

He's a special player being put in a tremendous situation and I think a lot of people sleep on him. He easily stands out to me as the safest.

Give me “a less intelligent Sanderson” over or equal to any D in this draft

 

[Golden_Jet]

The question I have is what exactly did the Ottawa scouts see in Yakemchuk that allowed them to pass on everyone else? The all around safe skills of Dickinson, the deadly offence in Parekh and the complete game in Buium (and Silayev as well)? Was Yak the natural athlete?

Everyone said it was a reach and now, doesn't look that way - leading this poll lol

Of the 5 listed,
I had them ranked Yakemchuk then Buium.
Poll results look good to me.

 

[Xirik]

based on this poll it almost looks like a lot of people think four out of the five GM's picked wrong as the best defenseman was picked the last out of all of them.

 

[Golden_Jet]

based on this poll it almost looks like a lot of people think four out of the five GM's picked wrong as the best defenseman was picked the last out of all of them.

that’s definitely one opinion.

 

[Crow]

I'm also here for the recency bias

Which one has a recency bias?

 

[Yepthatsme]

Just like it was at the draft, think it’s an absolute toss up.

Want the highest upside? Pick Yakemchuk
Want the highest floor? Pick Dickinson
Highest offensive upside? Pick Parekh
Highest defensive upside? Pick Silayev
Best chance to reach their ceiling? Pick Buium

All have their routes to being the best defenseman from the draft, really just depends on what you need as an organization. Don’t think it’s a coincidence that it was such a toss up the order just went all the RD followed by all the LD.

 

[JD1]

There is zero chance anyone here has seen all of these players enough to have an informed opinion on this.

Hmmm. Informed opinions. This is HF.

 

[AKL]

Which one has a recency bias?

Well Buium was the most recent pick so

 

[zenator]

I feel that the 2024 draft could be like 2011, where the top 10-15 players are all good, no busts.

 

[Sasso09]

If you have watched every one of these guys play dozens of games each I will stand corrected.

I have, and im sure many others on here have as well. I watch more juniors hockey than any other sport. OnHockey is pretty amazing.

 

[Sasso09]

Buium is the best defenseman in that draft imo.

Buium, Levshunov, Yakemchuk, Parekh, Dickinson.

I don’t see anything remotely elite in Silayev. He reminds me of Andrej Sustr.

i couldn't help but laugh out loud reading this. Sustr?

He's easily the best defender in the group, which is the most important aspect of being an NHL defenseman. His likelyhood of being a 1D is over 50% for me with his elite skating at 6'7". The lazy player comparison would be Chara but i'll go Hedman. Skating is even, defense is even or better (projected), offense is quite a bit behind. And he's easily more physical/nasty than Hedman.

I prefer a nasty 6'7" 230, 50 point shutdown elite defender over a 80+ point offense 6'0" defenseman any day of the week.

Silayev's only flaw is he was drafted by the Devils

 

[majormajor]

i couldn't help but laugh out loud reading this. Sustr?

He's easily the best defender in the group, which is the most important aspect of being an NHL defenseman. His likelyhood of being a 1D is over 50% for me with his elite skating at 6'7". The lazy player comparison would be Chara but i'll go Hedman. Skating is even, defense is even or better (projected), offense is quite a bit behind. And he's easily more physical/nasty than Hedman.

I prefer a nasty 6'7" 230, 50 point shutdown elite defender over a 80+ point offense 6'0" defenseman any day of the week.

Silayev's only flaw is he was drafted by the Devils

50 pt Silayev is pure imagination. He has little offensive ability. The early KHL scoring was just random bounces.

 

[Hisch13r]

i couldn't help but laugh out loud reading this. Sustr?

He's easily the best defender in the group, which is the most important aspect of being an NHL defenseman. His likelyhood of being a 1D is over 50% for me with his elite skating at 6'7". The lazy player comparison would be Chara but i'll go Hedman. Skating is even, defense is even or better (projected), offense is quite a bit behind. And he's easily more physical/nasty than Hedman.

I prefer a nasty 6'7" 230, 50 point shutdown elite defender over a 80+ point offense 6'0" defenseman any day of the week.

Silayev's only flaw is he was drafted by the Devils

I’ll take the defense for Silayev but he’s not even remotely close to Hedman offensively. His only offensive thought is to get the puck off his stick as quickly as possible. At this point offense might as well not even exist to him. The defense and skating is incredible though. He just swallows up ice.

Hedman’s another lazy comp. He’s not Hedman. A pre back injury Parayko is the guy. Parayko was 6’6 230, a great skater, chipped in 35 pts, and was an elite defender. I don’t think Silayev’s a 35 pt guy at this point. The puck moving and offense needs a lot of work but the rest lines up.

 

[LemonSauceD]

i couldn't help but laugh out loud reading this. Sustr?

He's easily the best defender in the group, which is the most important aspect of being an NHL defenseman. His likelyhood of being a 1D is over 50% for me with his elite skating at 6'7". The lazy player comparison would be Chara but i'll go Hedman. Skating is even, defense is even or better (projected), offense is quite a bit behind. And he's easily more physical/nasty than Hedman.

I prefer a nasty 6'7" 230, 50 point shutdown elite defender over a 80+ point offense 6'0" defenseman any day of the week.

Silayev's only flaw is he was drafted by the Devils

I couldn’t help but laugh out loud with yours as well. Only quite literally.

 

[LemonSauceD]

I’ll take the defense for Silayev but he’s not even remotely close to Hedman offensively. His only offensive thought is to get the puck off his stick as quickly as possible. At this point offense might as well not even exist to him. The defense and skating is incredible though. He just swallows up ice.

Hedman’s another lazy comp. He’s not Hedman. A pre back injury Parayko is the guy. Parayko was 6’6 230, a great skater, chipped in 35 pts, and was an elite defender. I don’t think Silayev’s a 35 pt guy at this point. The puck moving and offense needs a lot of work but the rest lines up.

Parayko sort of ceiling expectation for Silayev is probably more in line with the type of player he could be than some other examples I’ve seen. Hedman. For real?

The thing is I don’t see anything that resembles an offensive upside in Silayev. He’s not a Logan Stanley but isn’t a Chara type either. Tyler Myers, Jamie Oleksiak, or even lower like Andrej Sustr if he totally doesn’t pan out is the type of dman that I see.

 

[Hisch13r]

Parayko sort of ceiling expectation for Silayev is probably more in line with the type of player he could be than some other examples I’ve seen. Hedman. For real?

The thing is I don’t see anything that resembles an offensive upside in Silayev. He’s not a Logan Stanley but isn’t a Chara type either. Tyler Myers, Jamie Oleksiak, or even lower like Andrej Sustr if he totally doesn’t pan out is the type of dman that I see.

I really don’t give a shit if he never develops any offense as long as he shores up the puckmoving some. We have the high end offense on the backend with no more PP spots that’ll be open for like the next 10+ years. Also think with him likely having one of Nemec or Casey as his long term partner the puck moving issues can be alleviated somewhat by them. I think Silayev’s skating and defense is legitimately really really high end stuff. I think a quality shutdown #4 is like his floor

 

[Wierzbowski426]

Parayko celing?

gimme a break.

 

[Hisch13r]

Parayko celing?

gimme a break.

You either don’t remember how good Parayko was, are overestimating what Silayev is offensively, or both. Parayko before the back injuries was one of the best D in the league and a dominant force on the way to a Cup win. I’d be f***ing ecstatic if Silayev was prime Parayko

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Parayko sort of ceiling expectation for Silayev is probably more in line with the type of player he could be than some other examples I’ve seen. Hedman. For real?

He had a better PPG in his 17 year old season in the KHL than Hedman had in the SHL. Both guys were incredibly smooth skaters despite their height.

I don't see why Hedman couldn't be a top level ceiling for him, even if it's not the most likely scenario. He's more of a defensive player than Hedman was at the same age, but there's no reason he couldn't improve upon his offensive game. His puck rushing skills could become pretty elite as he settles into his size and his coordination improves.

I think a Jay Bouwmeester is a better comparison though.

I really don’t give a shit if he never develops any offense as long as he shores up the puckmoving some. We have the high end offense on the backend with no more PP spots that’ll be open for like the next 10+ years. Also think with him likely having one of Nemec or Casey as his long term partner the puck moving issues can be alleviated somewhat by them. I think Silayev’s skating and defense is legitimately really really high end stuff. I think a quality shutdown #4 is like his floor

Silayev - Casey = drool

 

[Hisch13r]

He had a better PPG in his 17 year old season in the KHL than Hedman had in the SHL. Both guys were incredibly smooth skaters despite their height.

I don't see why Hedman couldn't be a top level ceiling for him, even if it's not the most likely scenario. He's more of a defensive player than Hedman was at the same age, but there's no reason he couldn't improve upon his offensive game. His puck rushing skills could become pretty elite as he settles into his size and his coordination improves.

I think a Jay Bouwmeester is a better comparison though.

Silayev - Casey = drool

That’s also been my preference over Silayev-Nemec. Luke-Nemec was great last year and Nemec is better as a secondary off puck offensive presence in the OZ than as the primary guy creating on the backend which is why I think he paired so well with Luke. Then Casey can be that guy driving offense from the backend for Silayev. I imagine most people would be shocked if Silayev-Casey were to end up the top pair over Luke-Nemec but I think it’s a very real possibility

 

[Wierzbowski426]

You either don’t remember how good Parayko was, are overestimating what Silayev is offensively, or both. Parayko before the back injuries was one of the best D in the league and a dominant force on the way to a Cup win. I’d be f***ing ecstatic if Silayev was prime Parayko

His career high is 35 pts lol.

Yea not letting this go. Its a ridiculous statement unless we have vastly different definitions for the term "Ceiling"

 

[zenator]

On hockeydb, they have updated Yakemchuk to 6'4 207 lbs. In his prime will he be 6'4 230?

Hits like a truck, fights, silky hands, great puck-handler, offensive IQ. An unusual Dion Phaneuf Brent Burns hybrid. Very unique skillset.

I saw it mentioned that his fitness testing was very low at the combine. It will be interesting to see how he plays when he gets in shape.

 

[Jersey Fresh]

What happened between the draft and today for everyone to turn on a dime with Yakemchuk? Does rookie camp and some preseason games really move the needle? That pick was widely panned on draft day, even by Sens fans.

 

[Hale The Villain]

What happened between the draft and today for everyone to turn on a dime with Yakemchuk? Does rookie camp and some preseason games really move the needle? That pick was widely panned on draft day, even by Sens fans.

Draft position is a factor. He went above the rest on draft day, which means he's the best prospect in many people's minds.

He's looked really good in his two pre-season games after a mediocre rookie camp/prospect tourney, but it's playing a bigger role than it should in this poll.

 

[dgibb10]

His career high is 35 pts lol.

Yea not letting this go. Its a ridiculous statement unless we have vastly different definitions for the term "Ceiling"

Peak Parayko was an absolute force and arguably the best player on a cup winning team.

All defenseman drafted in the top 15 in 2024. Who do we like the most here long term?

Levshunov looking at this post